{"id":1966,"date":"2018-11-07T21:01:50","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T21:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regalgrid.com\/?post_type=magazine&p=1966"},"modified":"2024-09-25T13:13:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T13:13:24","slug":"community-energy-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/regalgrid.com\/en\/magazine\/community-energy-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy communities: community energy around the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Energy communities<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0have arrived in\u00a0Italy<\/strong>, thanks to the Milleproroghe Decree, introduced ahead of complete transposition of the\u00a02018 European Renewable Energy Directive<\/strong>, which must be adopted by June 2021. Yet interest in renewables at the global level began with the goals defined by the\u00a02030 Agenda<\/strong>\u00a0of the United Nations, a document signed by Heads of State from all around the world in\u00a02015<\/strong>, and continues alongside the spread of\u00a0smart grids<\/a>. Let’s take a look at global developments in the field of energy communities.<\/p>\n

Smart communities in Europe<\/h2>\n

The Sustainable Development Goals established by the Summit have been integrated as a priority for the EU with the 2016\u00a0Clean Energy Package<\/strong>, extended in subsequent years with new directives. Specifically, the goal of clean and accessible energy for all outlines a significant increase in generation from renewable sources, as set out in\u00a0Directive 2018\/2001<\/strong>. This establishes that\u00a0green energy<\/strong>\u00a0must account for at least\u00a032%<\/strong>\u00a0of EU gross total energy by 2030, with each member state reaching its specific target by 1 January 2021. Italy\u2019s target has been set at 17%, which was met by our country back in 2014 and surpassed with\u00a020.12\u00a0GW<\/strong>\u00a0generated in 2018 according to\u00a0IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0data.<\/p>\n

Back in 2014, the European Council spoke of the importance of\u00a0interconnection in the energy market<\/strong>\u00a0in its conclusions on the \u201c2030 climate and energy policy framework\u201d. Directive 2018\/2001 also defines collective self-consumption as a solution for increasing production of green energy and meeting Agenda 2030 goals.<\/p>\n

Following approval of European Directive 2018\/2001,\u00a0Spain<\/strong>\u00a0was the first country to introduce the possibility of collective self-consumption, in the same year, with royal decree law 15\/2018. This was followed by energy-community legislation in\u00a0Greece<\/strong>\u00a0(Law 4513\/2018). This opened up the possibility of sharing energy without the need for a private distribution grid.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Northern Europe there have long been\u00a0positive examples<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0community energy<\/strong>: shared energy projects that are entirely or partially owned or managed by community groups, including energy co-operatives. Members of these communities can have different levels of involvement in the project (from production to storage and management of energy). One common feature of these projects is the involvement of\u00a0utility companies\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>for utilisation of\u00a0distribution-grid infrastructure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Shared renewable energy in Denmark<\/h3>\n

Denmark has been a shining\u00a0example of collective investment in renewables since 1970<\/strong>. Its foresight allowed the country to reach\u00a040%<\/strong>\u00a0of wind turbines installed under community ownership by 2002, and this figure had risen to\u00a080%<\/strong>\u00a0by 2013: the renewable energy capacity of Denmark has thus become one of the highest in the world. The federal government deals with matters associated with energy and definition of agreements with\u00a0utility companies<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0for connection to the grid. However, these companies are not just partners, but rather\u00a0co-owners<\/strong>\u00a0of the projects. Since 2009, the Danish Renewable Energy Act has reduced the portion reserved to co-operatives to 20% of new wind-power generation projects.<\/p>\n

Since\u00a02012<\/strong>, Denmark has also made significant progress in the\u00a0photovoltaic<\/strong>\u00a0sector, which in 2018 met 2.8% of energy demand with expectations for 1000\u00a0MW to be reached this year.<\/p>\n

The solar boom in Germany due to introduction of energy communities<\/h3>\n

Germany has focused on various community-owned solar energy projects since the\u00a0beginning of the ’90s<\/strong>, achieving\u00a050%<\/strong>\u00a0community-ownership of photovoltaic production in 2014.<\/p>\n

One widely discussed case outlined in the\u00a0German Renewable Energy Sources Act<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0apartment-block self-consumption<\/strong>, where the energy produced and consumed within the building does not pass through the national grid, avoiding system charges from the operator.<\/p>\n

In 2015, the estimated number of renewable energy co-operatives was\u00a0973<\/strong>, largely using photovoltaic systems. In this case too, the federal government mediates and governs agreements for collaboration between producers and service companies. In\u00a02018<\/strong>,\u00a045.9\u00a0GW<\/strong>\u00a0of energy was generated, placing the Germany not only amongst European leaders but also in the top five globally.<\/p>\n

The rise of energy communities in the UK<\/h3>\n

In 2018, the UK had a solar-energy production capacity of\u00a013.1\u00a0GW<\/strong>, making it one of the leading producers in the renewables sector, both in Europe and internationally. Management of this clean energy was connected to shared energy initiatives dating back to the\u00a0end of the 20th century<\/strong>. In the new millennium, estimates set the number of active renewable-energy communities at around\u00a0300<\/strong>. In 2009, energy communities owned 4% of solar panels installed and currently\u00a080%<\/strong>\u00a0of shared energy projects use photovoltaic technology. In 2017, the UK generated more renewable energy than that from gas and coal, representing\u00a033%<\/strong>\u00a0of total energy generated, compared to 29% the previous year. Changes to legislation and regulations are altering the future of many projects that will have to find a new business model, business and supporters in order to survive.<\/p>\n

The whole of Europe is moving towards collective self-consumption<\/h3>\n

Other European states are also increasing consumption of renewable energy, and this is thanks to\u00a0energy-community<\/strong>\u00a0legislation.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0French Network Code<\/strong>\u00a0defines \u201ccollective self-consumption\u201d as a group of consumers and producers that organise themselves into a single legal person for the purpose of self-consumption within the same MV\/LV transformer substation. The head of the consumption group communicates the division of energy to the operator.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Switzerland<\/strong>, federal law has established the possibility of collective self-consumption via groupings referred to as \u201cRCPs\u201d. These communities are formed of prosumers and consumers that join forces to share self-generated energy without using the national grid. The RCP is responsible for maintenance of private grids, distribution and metering of energy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Solar communities in the USA<\/h2>\n

Solar energy continues its growth also in America: in 2018, the USA generated\u00a051.45\u00a0GW<\/strong>, placing it at the top of the leaderboard. In 2019, its renewable capacity represented\u00a040%<\/strong>\u00a0of the total, the highest annual value in the history of the sector.<\/p>\n

In the US, energy regulation is largely in the hands of individual states. The positive side of this is that the system is already decentralised. States at the forefront apply\u00a0CCA – Community Choice Aggregation<\/strong>\u00a0legislation, also known as municipal aggregation. This offers the possibility for individual cities or counties to decide who to rely on for energy supplies. These forward-looking states, including California, New York and Minnesota, have been experiencing a boom in\u00a0solar communities<\/strong>\u00a0or solar gardens since\u00a02019<\/strong>. There are communities of this type in around 42 states but only 20 of these have legislation that allows them to achieve economies of scale.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0solar-energy sharing<\/strong>\u00a0model<\/a>\u00a0is aimed at allowing all members to share the benefits of photovoltaic energy at the local level, including those who cannot or prefer not to install systems on their property, whether due to a lack of space or for economic reasons.<\/p>\n

Australia: the expansion of smart communities<\/h2>\n

In Australia too, renewable energy is spreading and the country recorded generation capacity of\u00a010.3 GW<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a02018<\/strong>.\u00a0Community energy<\/strong>\u00a0projects have spread as they did in the UK, particularly along the coast and in areas poorly served by the national grid. In 2006, this was a largely unknown concept but in less than ten years\u00a019<\/strong>\u00a0projects were launched, with around another\u00a059<\/strong>\u00a0in the development phase. Today, there are more than 100 energy communities across the country. Currently, ARENA (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) has assigned funds of $\u00a0330,000 to support shared-energy programmes nationally. These programmes will be even more valuable for their contribution to identifying a solution for supply stability, which has seen a crisis in recent years after events such as the 2016 tornadoes.<\/p>\n

The whole world is therefore making the move towards\u00a0digital energy communities<\/strong>, with the history and culture of each country determining different legislation and infrastructure, and above all different implementation models. But differences disappear when we consider the common goal of transition to a small-scale, distributed approach that characterises this energy revolution.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":4348,"parent":0,"template":"","category-magazine":[40],"class_list":["post-1966","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine-energy-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalgrid.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/1966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalgrid.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalgrid.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazine"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/regalgrid.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/1966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4350,"href":"https:\/\/regalgrid.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/1966\/revisions\/4350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regalgrid.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regalgrid.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category-magazine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regalgrid.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category-magazine?post=1966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}